Bolts not buying into bye guarantee

Turner says team must stay sharp

LaDainian Tomlinson says staying sharp during the bye week is paramount: "In ’06, we were like, ‘Well, let’s get everyone healthy.’ It didn’t work out to our advantage. That first game, we were a little rusty."
— John R. McCutchen / Union-Tribune

LaDainian Tomlinson says staying sharp during the bye week is paramount: "In ’06, we were like, ‘Well, let’s get everyone healthy.’ It didn’t work out to our advantage. That first game, we were a little rusty."
— John R. McCutchen / Union-Tribune

The Chargers have secured the AFC’s No. 2 seed, and they know what that means.

Nothing, really.

“I think going the bye route gives you an advantage,” head coach Norv Turner said. “It doesn’t guarantee you anything. You still have to play good.”

While teams fight for the coveted top two seeds and the bye week and at least one home game that are included, three of the past four Super Bowls have been won by a third, a fifth and a sixth seed.

A No. 2 seed has won four of the past 10 Super Bowls. A No. 2 seed has lost its first playoff game eight times over those 10 years.

As General Manager A.J. Smith has often said — just get in the tournament.

And after a 2-3 start, a beginning and middle of the season rife with injury, the Chargers are in the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

“I’m very proud of our players and coaches,” Smith said. “Our goal was to get to the playoffs. We have accomplished that, and in doing so we now have an opportunity to win a championship.

“To get in the tournament, you have to endure a long, hard, physical and demanding regular season. This team earned its way in, and I’m happy and excited for them.”

Smith knows the Chargers will benefit from the rest the No. 2 seed affords. But from his perspective the seed’s main benefit is that it eliminates a game.

Although getting the No. 2 seed has its own pitfalls, which the Chargers will now attempt to navigate with one regular season game remaining.

In 2006, the Chargers won their final 10 regular-season games to finish 14-2 and capture the AFC’s top seed. They played a final home game they needed to clinch that No. 1 seed, sat home for a week while the playoffs opened elsewhere and then hosted the New England Patriots — and lost 24-21.

No team is going to refuse a bye after playing 16 of the previous 17 weeks. The Chargers’ bye came in Week 5, so by next Sunday they will have played 12 straight weeks.

And starters playing one, two or three quarters against the Washington Redskins in the Jan. 3 regular-season finale likely will make little difference in how sharp they are come Jan. 16 or 17 in their divisional playoff game.

Maintaining a focus during the time off and practicing with purpose is going to be paramount.

“We have to use the bye smartly,” Turner said.

Players look back on three Januarys ago and believe the lead-up to that Patriots loss had something to do with the meltdown that occurred.

“We’d like to stay in a rhythm,” LaDainian Tomlinson said. “In ’06, we were like, ‘Well, let’s get everyone healthy.’ It didn’t work out to our advantage. That first game, we were a little rusty.”

Preventing that will be Turner’s main task, and he seemed primed for it immediately after Friday night’s victory over the Tennessee Titans.

“Every single guy is going to prepare to play next Sunday,” Turner said. “We’re going to practice the way we practice.”